Tag Archives: urban beekeeping
Our First Ever Spring Hive Check
It’s often said that the more you know, the more you know you don’t know. This rings true for us every time we open our hive and even when we’re just sitting nearby watching with wonderment. Though we’re entering our … Continue reading
Posted in Basics, Beekeeping, Chicago
Tagged checker boarding, hive check, inside the hive, lessons learned, pollen, queen excluder, spring, supers, urban beekeeping
4 Comments
A Winter Beard
Our little blog has been dormant for months, but our mighty hive is alive and kicking. Early last September we harvested over twenty pounds of honey, a 225% increase from our first-ever harvest in 2010. We were surprised by the … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Chicago, History, Uncategorized
Tagged bearding, bees died, harvest, urban beekeeping, winter
2 Comments
Do As He Says, Not As He Does
Sunday night. It’s hot. We’re tired. Our bodies are rebelling against us after a six hour road trip. The sun is setting, and our bees are settling in for the evening. We wanted to curl up with a slice of … Continue reading
Posted in Basics, Events, Uncategorized
Tagged lessons learned, stings, Two-Face, urban beekeeping
1 Comment
A Little Tough Love at the Hive
When we picked up our new bees in late May, Bob the Beeman from Kress Apiary handed us a clear plastic packet containing something that resembled refrigerated pie dough. In fact it contained two formic acid strips. On an earlier … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Resources, Uncategorized
Tagged Dadant, formic acid, inside the hive, Kress Apiary, tough love, urban beekeeping
1 Comment
Unsolved Mystery: What Happened to Our Bees?
Our first year as urban beekeepers ended on a sad note: we lost the entire colony. On a recent, warm spring day we opened the silent hive in search of answers. Our investigation was inconclusive, but we ruled out starvation.
Posted in Beekeeping, News
Tagged bees died, inside the hive, urban beekeeping, videos, winter
17 Comments
All’s Quiet at the Hive
Our anxiety as first-time bee ‘parents’ grows as the days shorten and our beehive goes quiet. And I am reminded with each passing day of the blind faith required to be a beekeeper. All summer long we fretted over whether or not our … Continue reading
You’ve Got Bees
Four days had passed since we left our brand new, very first ever bee hive in Burns Harbor, Indiana. We didn’t exactly abandon it. In fact, we’d left it in the most capable of hands – our bee mentor, Bob … Continue reading
Dreaming of Honey Bees in the Windy City
We got the bug, so to speak, a couple of years ago when my dear friend Chantal, the loyal keeper of my secrets and loving reminder that blood is not thicker than water, got her first hive and became an urban … Continue reading
